


Soulmate Marks: Touch

by Crack_Pair_King



Series: Soulmate Marks: a Joker and a Panther [2]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, ShuAnn Week 2k19, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-05-31 15:59:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19429312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crack_Pair_King/pseuds/Crack_Pair_King
Summary: After the Wilton Hotel, Ann's flinch reminds Ren that some things are beyond even soulmates.





	Soulmate Marks: Touch

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 of 7 for this Soulmate Marks AU. I'll be honest, none of these are going to be terribly long. The reason I didn't actually tackle this as a full-out novelization was because I couldn't come up with more than a handful of scenes that would be different enough, interesting enough, or worth revising enough to make the novelization worth it. Especially with P5R coming up.
> 
> Edit: if you read this previous to midnight, EST, I apologize for the formatting. Idk what caused it, but i had to go into the HTML and pull out a bunch of forced spacing code to fix it.

"Watch it!" Ren moved as he spoke. His fingers caught Ann's shoulder. He pulled her back, glaring as the asshole adults from the elevator pushed through. Again.

Ren couldn't believe it, the same fu-

Ann flinched under Ren's hand. Then she tore away from his grip like he was the worst of hell's creations. All at once that bald man was the furthest thing from Ren's mind.

Across the inside of Ren's soulmark Slime spread, then sucked back into shape in a motion that hurt, as soon as he felt the flinch.

His touch wasn't supposed to make her flinch.

Ren tried to ignore it. He shoved his hands in his pockets. It was a by-now-familiar way to hide the hands that always gave away his emotions.

Ann's eyes scorched the room as she turned to look at Ren. Those were Panther's eyes. Ren appreciated them every bit as much as he did Ann's normal gaze. Even if she was aiming the "die in a fire" look at him rather than the enemy.

He jerked his chin towards the bald man and his entourage.

"Those guys we were talking bout. They've got this habit of running people over."

Ann rubbed at her shoulder absently. Her expression softening as she listened. The fire died, deprived of vital heat as she understood his intent. He'd been trying to protect her from physical injury. That set Carmen to dancing in glee across Ann's soulmark.

Only...

"He used to grab me like that."

Ren froze on the spot. So still that Ann expected to see red gloves that didn't actually need adjusting.

Then he spoke and the words held wrath like Ann had never known. Cold and precise and capable of terrible things if given a proper reason. Carmen whispered that this was Arsene, yet far more dangerous than Arsene could ever be.

"If it ever happens again, you let me know."

Ann nodded, but that wasn't really her focus. She'd always been observant, or so she was told. She used that now and watched Ren carefully. Saw the way his forearms shook even as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

Her flinch. The way she'd jerked away. She'd hurt him, she realized with an ache in her heart. Carmen's dancing against the inside of her soulmark instantly stopped. A quiet keening filled the back of Ann's mind. Carmen's, she recognized in an absent way.

Her soulmate tried to protect her and she'd flinched away from him. It was a reflexive kind of reaction to a touch she hated.

It was a visceral kind of rejection that Ren didn't deserve. One dealt to a boy far too used to rejection from people meant to stand beside him.

Dealt by the one person whose rejection could hurt worst of all.

Ann still remembered when her mark held Shiho's brand. Still remembered the wonder of seeing that volleyball and Shiho's favorite flowers in her mirror. Remembered that soul-tearing day when her best friend had to tell Ann that she was very, very straight.

Ann remembered how much that rejection hurt. It was as much stubborn determination as real affection that kept Ann and Shiho's friendship alive through that trial.

Ann stepped in, and wrapped her arms around Ren's waist. There she stayed for long minutes. Felt his heart slow from a frantic pace she hadn't known people could achieve without getting all sweaty.

She didn't speak until she felt his heartbeat, steady and strong, align with her own.

"I'm okay. Just... not the shoulder?"

"Never again." Ren uttered his vow into Ann's hair.

His vow stood unbroken unto the last, still synchronized, beat of their hearts.


End file.
